User interfaces for F.A.I.R. systems

ABSTRACT

Through a variety of market or quasi-market techniques, internal corporate information can be conveyed to external markets in a manner that reflects knowledge, opinions, predictions, and the like of corporate personnel without requiring disclosure of specific insider or other confidential corporate information. The market techniques may include highly concrete mechanisms such as explicit executive selection or trading of elements of a compensation package based on, e.g., various measures of corporate, group, or personal performance. More abstract mechanisms such as polling or voting may also be employed to measure and quantify internal company views. The resulting data may also be conveyed to external markets in a variety of ways ranging from real time or near-real time data feeds to periodic, aggregate reporting.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/679,156, filed on Feb. 26, 2007, which application claimsthe benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/779,468 filedon Mar. 5, 2006. The contents of these applications are incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The invention relates to executive compensation in efficient markets,and more particularly to providing systems and/or methods ofcompensation that communicate information to external markets.

2. Description of Related Art

Corporations employ several methods of communicating information, someof which are entirely voluntary, but none of which succeeds at inducinginsiders to provide immediate, accurate, comprehensive communicationsthat even unsophisticated investors, outside investors, creditors andthe like can understand. The current methods include financialstatements, quarterly conference calls, earnings guidance and directdisclosures.

The most glaring deficiency of financial statements is that they arebackward looking and prepared infrequently—weeks or months afteroperating results and financial positions are apparent to certaininsiders. Moreover, although legal penalties encourage certain insidersto ensure that financial statements are technically accurate, nothingencourages those insiders to ensure that financial statements are whollyintelligible to unsophisticated investors, outside investors, creditorsand the like.

Earnings and other forms of guidance, though a useful complement tofinancial statements, also suffer several shortcomings. Because guidancerequires a meeting of the minds, it cannot be given continuously in“real time” as new information arises. Moreover, in forcing acorporation to speak with one voice, guidance leaves no room fordissenting opinions and weakens individual accountability for theaccuracy of the guidance. Finally, guidance often looks ahead only onequarter and, as such, overlooks information that will not immediatelyimpact a business's operating results.

Examples of direct disclosures are press releases and analyst calls. Thefirst problem with direct disclosures is that some information cannot bedirectly disclosed without destroying its value. To divulge details ofpromising technologies or business practices that are under developmentis to invite unwanted competition, but to omit the details is to stripthe disclosure of credibility. Additionally, the direct disclosures thatfill analyst calls are often so esoteric that they solidify rather thanmitigate the informational disadvantage of unsophisticated investors,outside investors, creditors and the like.

There remains a need for improved techniques for conveying corporateinformation to external markets such as public equities markets.

SUMMARY

User interfaces are described for trading in or otherwise viewing andmanaging synthetic securities and the like in a manner that aggregatesinformation possessed by corporate personnel and communicates theexpected effect of this information to the public without requiring therelease of any specific information, any of which may be confidential orotherwise protected. Through a variety of market or quasi-markettechniques, internal corporate information can be conveyed to externalmarkets in a manner that reflects knowledge, opinions, predictions, andthe like of corporate personnel without requiring disclosure of specificinsider or other confidential corporate information. The markettechniques may include highly concrete mechanisms such as explicitexecutive selection or trading of elements of a compensation packagebased on, e.g., various measures of corporate, group, or personalperformance. More abstract mechanisms such as polling or voting may alsobe employed to measure and quantify internal company views. Theresulting data may also be conveyed to external markets in a variety ofways ranging from real time or near-real time data feeds to periodic,aggregate reporting.

In one aspect, a graphical user interface disclosed herein includes

a secure interface for authenticated access to a market engine, whereinauthenticated access is reserved for one or more individuals associatedwith a corporate entity, the one or more individuals including at leastone employee of the corporate entity; an order placement tool within thesecure interface for submitting trades in at least one syntheticsecurity to a non-public market engine that supports trades among theone or more individuals, the synthetic security having a price relatedto at least one item of information for the corporate entity; and anorder confirmation tool that provides a user with a confirmation of atrade executed by the market engine.

The user interface may include a public interface for unconditionalaccess to trading results from the market engine. The user interface mayinclude a private interface for authenticated access by the one or moreindividuals to trading results from the market engine. The market enginemay support trades among the one or more individuals associated with thecorporate entity. The market engine may support unilateral trades by theuser. The synthetic security may have a price related to at least oneitem of non-public information for the corporate entity. The syntheticsecurity may have a price related to at least one item of publicinformation for the corporate entity. The market engine may supporttrades in a plurality of synthetic securities, each one of the pluralityof synthetic securities having a price related to one or more metrics ofthe corporate entity.

In another aspect, a graphical user interface described herein includesa publicly-accessible web interface to historical data for a non-publicmarket engine that executes transactions among a plurality ofindividuals associated with a corporate entity in at least one syntheticsecurity, the synthetic security having a price related to at least oneitem of information for the corporate entity; a display control withinthe web interface adapted to receive a user selection of at least one ofhistorical trading data for the at least one synthetic security andpublicly available information; and a window for displaying the at leastone of historical trading data and publicly available informationretrieved in response to the user selection.

The window may display a chronological chart of at least one ofhistorical trading data and publicly available information. The windowmay include interactive controls permitting the user to manipulate thedisplay of the at least one of historical trading data and publiclyavailable information. The window may include interactive controlspermitting the user to apply at least one of a selection of algorithmsand mathematical operations to the at least one of historical tradingdata and publicly available information. The window may includeinteractive controls permitting access to identity information for oneor more individuals who initiated trades reflected in the historicaltrading data. The identity information may include a name. The identityinformation may include a role of the one or more individuals within thecorporate entity. The identity information may include one or more of ajob title for the one or more individuals, a departmental associationfor the one or more individuals, and an employment history at thecorporate entity for the one or more individuals. The historical tradingdata may be delayed. Access to non-delayed historical trading data maybe provided as a fee-based service. The at least one item of informationmay include an item of publicly available information. The at least oneitem of information may include an item of non-public information.

In another aspect, a graphical user interface disclosed herein includesa secure interface for authenticated access to a market engine, whereinauthenticated access is reserved for one or more dealers of at least onesynthetic security in a non-public market that supports trades among oneor more individuals, the synthetic security having a price related to atleast one item of information for a corporate entity; an order-matchingtool within the secure interface for matching trades in at least onesynthetic security; a display control adapted to receive a usercontrolled selection of executed and unexecuted trades; an orderconfirmation tool that provides a user with a confirmation of a matchedtrade.

Trades may be matched between individuals associated with a corporateentity. Trades may be matched against at least one dealer's inventory ofsynthetic securities.

In another aspect, a computer program product described herein includescomputer executable code that, when executing on one or more computingdevices, performs the steps of: providing a market engine supportingtrades in at least one synthetic security, the synthetic security havinga price related to at least one item of information for a corporateentity; providing a secure interface to the market engine for receivingtrades from on or more authenticated users; storing a plurality oftrades in a database, the plurality of trades executed by the marketengine according to trade orders received through the secure interface;and presenting a public interface for un-authenticated access toinformation in the database.

It will be understood that the term “user interface” as used herein mayrefer to a specific window of a user interface, or to a collection ofuser interfaces operating from a common server, information set, or thelike. All such meanings are generally intended unless a more specificmeaning is provided or otherwise clear from the context.

The term “information” as used herein is intended to refer to allinformation relevant to the value of a business or organization (such asa corporation) or relevant to the value of one or more securities,commodities, currencies, derivative claims (including futures andoptions), indices, funds, bonds or other debt instruments, or the like.Information may include information about the business, financials,prospects, inside information, results, research results, experimentalresult, survey data, feelings, predictions, forecasts, decisions, futuretransactions, past, present and/or future performance, and the like.Information may be objective or subjective, and may include, forexample, individual or aggregate opinions within a company concerninggeneral or specific prospects for the company's future. Thus, by way ofexample and not of limitation, information may include a particularexecutive's opinion concerning the upcoming fiscal year, an engineeringor scientific research team's view on various research and developmentinitiatives, or the management team's aggregate knowledge about currentfinancial performance that has not yet been communicated to the generalpublic. Information may involve knowledge or expectations. Informationmay relate to the past, present or future. Information may relate tobusiness affairs, business conditions, plans, opportunities, litigation,finances, profitability, growth, market-share, prices, volumes,suppliers, vendors, customers, competitors, regulators, employees,contractors, consultants, sales, sales prospects, customer defaults,order cancellations, inventories, industry metrics, or the like.Information may relate to products, services, technical data, know-how,ideas, inventions, concepts, software, equipment, designs, drawings,specifications, techniques, processes, models, data, source code, objectcode, documentation, diagrams, flow charts, research and development, orthe like, including the marketability of the foregoing. Information mayalso relate to financing events, takeovers, mergers, acquisitions,supply, demand, stock issues, stock buybacks, stock-based employee orexecutive compensation or other conditions in the debt, equity,commodities, currencies, futures or derivatives markets. Information mayrelate to economic growth, productivity, employment, inflation, taxes,spending, current account deficits, or the like.

The term “phantom security” (also referred to herein as a “syntheticsecurity”) is intended to refer to an interest traded in a FAIR tradingenvironment. This may include one or more rights, options, obligations,contracts or the like, the values of which are based on or affected byone or more parameters (such as price, volatility, volume, timing, or ananalyst expectation) related to one or more securities, commodities,currencies, derivative claims (including futures and options), indices,funds, performance metrics, operating results, financial positions,financing events, takeovers, mergers, acquisitions, business conditions,business decisions, forecasts or the like. The value of a phantomsecurity may be also be affected by supply and demand within a market orthe like for phantom securities. The value of a phantom security mayalso be affected by a board of directors or the like. The value of aphantom security may be measured in dollars, points or other units. Thevalue of a phantom security may be determined objectively orsubjectively. In various embodiments described herein, companyemployees, executives, officers, and/or directors may actually tradephantom securities to directly control factors in their compensation, sothat the phantom security operates as a derivative financial instrumenttraded within a company. In other embodiments the phantom securities mayreflect other compensation decisions, but nonetheless be communicated toexternal markets as a signal for inside information.

In general, the term “insider” refers to any individual having access toand/or possession of inside information about a company including, forexample a director, officer, executive, employee, contractor,consultant, advisor, lawyer, banker, investment banker, creditor,debtor, securities exchange, association, regulator, governmentofficial, government body, corporation, affiliate, researcher, mediaoutlet, or other individual or group with general or role-specificaccess and/or possession of inside information. Other individuals suchas brokers, analysts and other nominal outsiders may periodicallypossess inside information, although under present securities laws anysuch disclosure by the company must also be publicly disclosed. Incertain instances a device or system may contain inside information,such as a computer program, computer network, computer database,automated quotation system, or the like, in which case the system ordevice may be considered an insider as that term is used herein. Unlessa specific meaning is provided or otherwise clear from the context, allof the above entities may be considered to be “insiders” as that term isused herein.

The term “interested party” is intended to refer to a director, officer,executive, employee, contractor, consultant, advisor, lawyer, banker,broker, dealer, regulator, government official, government body,investor, creditor, debtor, analyst, corporation, affiliate, researcher,stock exchange, association, automated quotation system, media outlet,computer program, computer network, computer database, or any otherperson, device, system, institution or entity that may accesscommunications from insiders, access analysis of insiders'communications, send communications to insiders or receive information.An insider may be an interested party. The general public or a publicmarket may be an interested party. Throughout this disclosure the terminvestor may include any direct or indirect stakeholder or any party whomay be affected by the information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The invention will be more fully understood by reference to the detaileddescription, in conjunction with the following figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 depicts interactions among an insider, interested parties and aFAIR facility.

FIG. 2 depicts a particular embodiment of interactions among an insider,interested party and a FAIR facility.

FIG. 3A depicts a situation in which the marginal price of phantomshares is less than the expected liquidation price.

FIG. 3B depicts a situation in which the marginal price of phantomshares equals the expected liquidation price.

FIG. 3C depicts a situation in which the marginal price of phantomshares is greater than the expected liquidation price.

FIG. 4 depicts the effects of uncertainty in relation to tradingbehavior.

FIG. 5 shows a FAIR system.

FIG. 6 shows a private trading interface for the FAIR system.

FIG. 7 shows a public interface for the FAIR system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

When a business is owned entirely by insiders and has liabilities onlyto insiders, all information that is known by the business's insiders isalso known by its investors, since they are the same people. When,however, a business is owned partly or entirely by outsiders (such aspassive investors or, where the company is publicly traded, the generalpublic, investment firms, hedge funds, and so forth) or has liabilitiesto outsiders, insiders may possess information that these outsideinvestors do not. The inability of outside investors to acquire theinformation of insiders at zero cost is a fundamental inefficiency ofthe public corporation. Other businesses and organizations (includinggovernment bodies) may also benefit from increased transparency.

In general, a Facilitated Acceleration of Information Revelation(“FAIR”) facility 108, as described herein, may be usefully employed tocommunicate inside information from insiders 102 to interested parties104 without requiring disclosure of the inside information. As depicted,insiders 102 may communicate with the FAIR facility, such as providingopinions, predictions, and/or selections of compensation structure. TheFAIR facility 108 may, in turn, communicate the results of insider-FAIRcommunications to interested parties 104. Of course, insiders 102 maycontinue to communicate with interested parties 104 in any suitableform. However, where insiders 102 possess inside or confidentialinformation, this may be communicated to interested parties 104indirectly through the manifestation of this information in theinsider's input to the FAIR facility 108.

The less information investors have at any moment or over any period oftime, the less certain they are at that moment or over that period oftime about the future returns of their securities and/or investments.Uncertainty about future returns may be undesirable for several reasons.Investors may prefer certain returns to uncertain returns and are thusharmed by uncertainty per se. Some market participants may wasteresources acquiring information in order to benefit from trades withothers. Some market participants, including market makers, may respondto better informed market participants by altering their own tradingbehavior in ways that impair the market.

Disclosed herein are systems and/or methods for creating, providing,administering and/or maintaining a form of compensation that allows eachparticipating insider (or group of insiders) to modify his (or thegroup's) compensation, such as executive compensation, in light of his(or the group's) information. The insider may, of course, rely in wholeor in part on publicly available information. However, as a significantadvantage over existing systems for disseminating corporate information,the insider may also, or instead, rely on non-public information inselecting compensation options, thereby communicating the insider'sexpected value of the non-public information to the public withoutrequiring release of the information to the public. The choices made bythe insider may more generally involve trading, wagering, makingpredictions and/or selecting compensation, as well as other behavior.The modifications may function as predictions or signals about one ormore investments, securities, commodities, currencies, derivative claims(including futures and options), indices, funds, performance metrics,operating results, financial positions, financing events, takeovers,mergers, acquisitions, business conditions, business decisions,forecasts or the like. While the following description focuses onsecurities, it will be readily appreciated that the systems and methodsdescribed herein may apply equally to pricing for new bond issues,existing bond issues, credit ratings, expectations of delinquency, andother debt-related instruments and/or metrics. The modifications may beat fixed intervals or may be continuous, intermittent, or on any otherscheduled, ad hoc, or other basis. In general, references to a fixedinterval or continuous basis will be understood to refer to anyperiodic, aperiodic, scheduled, event-driven, ad hoc, or other timebasis for the occurrence of corresponding events. The modifications maybe unilateral, bilateral or multilateral. The modifications may be in amarket (such as a trading environment supported by a FAIR facility) orthe like. The modifications may be combined, considered and/or weightedwith other factors in order to determine each insider's compensation.The other factors may include financial metrics for either the insider'sdivision (or other area of responsibility) or the entire company, suchas sales, costs, profitability, earnings, return on investment, growthrates, relative performance in an industry, and the like. The otherfactors may include other quantitative metrics such as peer evaluationscores, employee evaluation scores, or the like. The other factors mayalso account for the impact of the decisions made by the insider,contributions to the overall business, or other measures of leadershipand management ability. The combination, consideration and/or weightingmay be done objectively, for example, by using a formula, rules, or thelike, or subjectively, for example, by deliberation among the board ofdirectors or the like. The subjective considerations may provide asubjective filter, which may act as a check on whether an insider isacting in the interests of all or certain constituents, such asshareholders. The subjective considerations may prevent abuse or reduceor eliminate the perception of potential abuse by insiders. Thecompensation may be performance based-compensation. An insider (or groupof insiders) may be compensated for the speed of his (or the group's)modifications, for the accuracy of the signals expressed by his (or thegroup's) modifications, for other criteria related to his (or thegroup's) modifications, and/or for participating in a broaderarrangement that allows for such modifications. Additionally oralternatively, the modifications may have an indirect and/or delayedeffect on compensation. In an embodiment, an insider may demonstrate hisability to accurately predict future share prices without being directlycompensated for his predictions; rather, the demonstrated accuracy ofhis predictions may allow him to negotiate greater compensation in afuture employment contract. In this way, through his predictions he isindirectly modifying his future compensation and contributing to hishuman capital. The systems and/or methods may be embodied in a FAIRfacility.

Disclosed herein are systems and/or methods for creating, providing,administering and/or maintaining one or more markets or the like inwhich an insider (or group of insiders) may modify his (or the group's)compensation. Such a market may include an exchange, automatedquotations system, order matching system, auction system, clearinghouseor the like. Participation in such a market may be restricted to certainemployees, corporate entities, insiders, or others. Such a market mayinclude phantom securities. Such a market may be part of a FAIRfacility.

The value of a phantom security may be based on or affected by one ormore parameters (such as price, volatility, volume, timing, or ananalyst expectation) related to one or more securities, commodities,currencies, derivative claims (including futures and options), indices,funds, performance metrics, operating results, financial positions,financing events, takeovers, mergers, acquisitions, business conditions,business decisions, forecasts or the like. The value of a phantomsecurity may also be affected by supply and demand within a market forphantom securities. The value of a phantom security may also be affectedby a board of directors or the like. The value of a phantom security maybe measured in points or other non-monetary units. The points or otherunits may be combined, considered and/or weighted with other factors inorder to determine each insider's compensation. In one aspect, themarket for phantom securities would not be open to the general public,and may not necessarily be subject to securities laws and relatedregulations.

In another aspect, disclosed herein are systems and/or methods forlinking modifications or other communications made by insiders tointerested parties, such as the investing public. The linking mayinvolve systems and/or methods for facilitating, recording,transmitting, publishing, publicizing, filtering, displaying and/ororganizing the modifications or other communications made by insiders.The linking may be accomplished via a FAIR facility.

In another aspect, disclosed herein are systems and/or methods forcreating, providing, administering and/or maintaining communications toinsiders from interested parties. The communications may be at fixedintervals or on a continuous basis. The systems and/or methods may beembodied in a FAIR facility.

Disclosed herein are systems and/or methods for linking thecommunications from interested parties to insiders. The linking mayinvolve systems and/or methods for facilitating, recording,transmitting, publishing, publicizing, filtering, displaying and/ororganizing the communications. The linking may be accomplished via aFAIR facility.

Disclosed herein are systems and/or methods for analyzing themodifications or other communications made by or to insiders. This mayinclude analyzing the actions and/or inactions of insiders. In anembodiment, if an insider declines to make a trade in phantom securitieswhen a trade in phantom securities is offered to him, that inaction maycontain information that can be revealed through analysis of hisprevious actions and inactions. The analysis may include statistical,mathematical, technical, graphical and/or descriptive analysis, or thelike. The analysis may be real-time analysis. The analysis may beaccomplished via a FAIR facility. The analysis may be a truncated orminimal analysis, merely summarizing the action or inaction.

The invention may include systems and/or methods for linking theanalysis to interested parties. The linking may involve systems and/ormethods for facilitating, recording, transmitting, publishing,publicizing, filtering, displaying, and/or organizing that analysis. Thelinking may be accomplished via a FAIR facility.

In embodiments, a FAIR facility may allow each insider (or group ofinsiders) to unilaterally or otherwise alter certain determinants of his(or the group's) performance-based or other compensation by tradingphantom securities. In one embodiment, an executive may trade phantomsecurities with his employer, subject to previously agreed-upon rules,in a market, such as a restricted-access market. In one embodiment, thevalue of a phantom security may be based on the price of a publiclytraded share of common and/or preferred stock. In one embodiment, aninsider may freely trade the phantom security (even where the insider isprohibited from trading the publicly traded security) and these tradesmay be available for inspection by the general public. In anotherembodiment, the phantom security may represent a corporate metric suchas monthly, quarterly, or annual profit of the company, or of a divisionwithin the company, and an executive or other employee may choose tohave compensation based on that metric in proportion to the quantity ofphantom securities owned. As with a phantom security that tracks stockprice, trades in the metric-based phantom security may be available forpublic inspection through the FAIR facility.

In embodiments, the purchase price of a phantom security may change atthe margin in a predetermined fashion. Gradual escalation of themarginal price of a phantom security may be useful in order to induceeach insider to buy a phantom security until the price of that phantomsecurity equals his perception of the true value of the parameter (orparameters) that forms the basis for the price of the phantom security.

In embodiments, phantom securities may liquidate automatically on apredetermined date at the public market price on that date, similar tothe expiration of a futures or options contract. In embodiments,insiders may be allowed to liquidate their phantom securities at a timeof their choosing, similar to the sale of a stock. Liquidations may beannounced or otherwise communicated to interested parties at the time ofthe liquidation.

In embodiments, phantom securities may be traded between insiders. Inembodiments, phantom securities may be traded between insiders and theiremployers or organizations to which they belong. In embodiments, phantomsecurities may be traded between insiders and specialists or dealers.

In embodiments, trades involving phantom securities may be for immediatecash settlement or on other settlement terms. In embodiments, as analternative to cash settlement, a FAIR facility may allow an insider totrade phantom securities for points, other phantom securities or othernon-monetary consideration. A FAIR facility may allow an insider totrade points or other consideration directly.

The systems and/or methods described herein may be created, provided,administered, and/or maintained entirely within each corporation or on acentral basis. One firm may provide the methods and/or systems forothers.

Referring to FIG. 1, insiders 102 may interact with interested parties104 via a FAIR facility 108. Insiders 102 may also interact directlywith interested parties 104, although certain arrangements between aninsider 102 and his employer may prevent or limit such interactions. Theinsider 102 may be a director, officer, executive, employee, contractor,consultant, advisor, lawyer, banker, broker, dealer, analyst, investor,creditor, securities exchange, association, automated quotation system,regulator, government official, government body, corporation, affiliate,researcher, media outlet, computer program, computer network, computerdatabase, or any other person, device, system, institution or entitypossessing information. A FAIR facility 108 may include technicians,traders, analysts, supervisors, computing devices, websites, networks,software, rules, regulations, policies, contracts, or the like. Aninterested party 104 may be a director, officer, executive, employee,contractor, consultant, advisor, lawyer, banker, broker, dealer,regulator, government official, government body, investor, creditor,analyst, corporation, affiliate, researcher, stock exchange,association, automated quotation system, media outlet, computer program,computer network, computer database, or any other person, device,system, institution or entity that may access communications frominsiders, access analysis of insiders' communications, and/or sendcommunications to insiders. An insider may be an interested party. Thegeneral public or a public market may be an interested party.

FIG. 2 is a high-level depiction of a FAIR process 200. In step 202 theprice of a phantom security may be linked to a parameter, such as thepublic market price of a share of common stock. In step 204 the publicmarket price may be recorded and the price of the phantom security maybe calculated based on a predetermined formula and conveyed to theinsider 102. In step 206 the insider 102 may place an order to tradephantom securities (such as a purchase or sell order). In step 208details of the trade, which may include the quantity and price ofphantom securities traded, may be recorded in order to calculate thenecessary payment to or from the insider 102 or to adjust the insider'scompensation. In step 210 those details may be announced or otherwisecommunicated to interested parties 104, such as the public market. Instep 206 the prices, such as public market prices, may adjust to theannouncement or other communication of the details.

Referring to FIG. 3, if an insider can liquidate phantom shares at thelevel of a parameter, such as the public market price of a share ofcommon stock, that prevails at the time of the liquidation, then inorder to maximize his expected profits, an insider 102 may stoppurchasing phantom shares when the marginal purchase price of a phantomshare equals the level of the parameter that he expects to prevail whenhe liquidates the phantom shares. FIG. 3B shows the situation in whichthe marginal price of a phantom share equals the public market pricethat the insider 102 expects to prevail when he liquidates. FIG. 3Ashows that purchasing fewer shares may leave profits on the table andFIG. 3C shows that purchasing more shares may result in losses on thelast shares purchased.

In embodiments, the price of a phantom security may be adjustedaccording to the size or timing of purchases. For example, a corporationmay allow an insider 102 to buy a certain class of phantom shares(referred to below as “Fshares”) at a price that starts at the currentpublic market price of the corporation's common stock and that ascendsat the margin according to the following schedule: an insider 102 canadd 10,000 Fshares to his account, with each Fshare costing 101% of themarket share price that prevails the instant he places his order; he canadd 20,000 Fshares to his account—the first 10,000 each costing 101% ofthe market share price that prevails the instant he places his order,the second 10,000 each costing 101.5% of the market share price thatprevails the instant he places his order; he can add 30,000 Fshares tohis account—the first 10,000 each costing 101.0% of the market shareprice that prevails the instant he places his order, the second 10,000each costing 101.5% of the market share price that prevails the instanthe places his order, the third 10,000 each costing 102.0% of the marketshare price that prevails the instant he places his order; and so on.Purchases of Fshares may be announced or otherwise communicated to themarket immediately or with a specified delay. The announcement or othercommunication may include the name of the purchaser, his affiliationwith the company, his position, his tenure with the company, hisownership of securities or derivative securities in the company or othercompanies, the dollar value of Fshares purchased, the marginal price atwhich he stopped purchasing and/or analysis related to his current orhistorical purchases, such as correlations between his prior purchasesand movements in share price. For example, an announcement may read,“Jeremy Murphy, Chief Financial Officer of Murphy Corp., purchases$1,000,000 of Fshares up to a final marginal price of $82.” Immediately,or after a specified delay, the insider 102 may be allowed to transactfurther in Fshares. Establishing a negative balance (“short”) of Fsharesmay be the mirror image of establishing a positive balance: incrementalprices may move down instead of up, those prices may be paid to aninsider 102 in the form of cash, points or other consideration, and themarket price of shares at the time of liquidation may be paid by theinsider 102 in the form of cash, points or other consideration. Theliquidation of a position in Fshares may be announced when it occurs orwith a specified delay. In this general manner, a premium may beapproximately determined based on the anticipated effect of theinsider's purchase on the public markets.

Similarly, trading in Fshares may be regulated or limited in a number ofother ways. For example, a particular user may be limited to certainpercentage allocations of particular types of Fshares. Thus an executivemay have a maximum of 20% of compensation tied to performance ofdivisions that the executive is not associated with. Any number ofsimilar limits may be implemented including caps related to public stockprice, earnings, sales, and so forth. The system may also, or instead,limit a volume of total transactions, or a volume of a particular typeof transaction on a time basis. These limitations may vary according toposition within the company hierarchy according to, e.g., managementlevel, years with company, management responsibilities (engineering,accounting, marketing, etc.), and so forth.

In embodiments, insiders 102 may trade units of one form of compensationfor units of another form of compensation. In one embodiment, insiders102 may trade units that vary positively with earnings per share forfixed units of compensation. The units of compensation, as well as therates at which the units may be traded for one and other, may beaffected by one or more parameters (such as price, volatility, volume,timing, or an analyst expectation) related to one or more securities,commodities, currencies, derivative claims (including futures andoptions), indices, funds, performance metrics, operating results,financial positions, financing events, takeovers, mergers, acquisitions,business conditions, business decisions, forecasts or the like. Therates at which units of compensation may be traded for one and other maybe affected by supply and demand for the units. The rates at which unitsof compensation may be traded for one and other may be affected by aboard of directors or the like. The rates at which units of compensationmay be traded for one another may change at the margin according to aformula. Trading may occur continuously or at set intervals. Trading mayoccur in a market or the like. Trading may be presented as or take theappearance of a game.

In embodiments, insiders 102 may structure their compensation byselecting from palates of compensation possibilities. The compensationselection may be broad, such as selecting between variable compensationand fixed compensation, or it may be specific, such as selecting themanner in which compensation is affected by a certain parameter, likeearnings per share. The compensation possibilities and/or rules ofcompensation selection may be affected by one or more parameters (suchas price, volatility, volume, timing, or an analyst expectation) relatedto one or more securities, commodities, currencies, derivative claims(including futures and options), indices, funds, performance metrics,operating results, financial positions, financing events, takeovers,mergers, acquisitions, business conditions, business decisions,forecasts or the like. The compensation possibilities and/or rules ofcompensation selection may be affected by the supply of and demand forcertain compensation possibilities. The compensation possibilitiesand/or rules of compensation selection may be set by a board ofdirectors or the like. The compensation possibilities and/or rules ofcompensation selection may change at the margin. Compensation selectionmay occur continuously or at set intervals. Compensation selection mayoccur in a market or the like. Compensation selection may be presentedas or take the appearance of a game.

In embodiments, insiders 102 may be allowed to place wagers related toone or more securities, commodities, currencies, derivative claims(including futures and options), indices, funds, performance metrics,operating results, financial positions, financing events, takeovers,mergers, acquisitions, business conditions, business decisions,forecasts or the like. The wagers may be placed in a market or the like.The wagers may be in dollars or other monetary consideration and/orpoints or other non-monetary consideration. Wagering may occurcontinuously or at set intervals. The rules of wagering, including theodds and potential payouts, may be affected by one or more parameters(such as price, volatility, volume, timing, or an analyst expectation)related to one or more securities, commodities, currencies, derivativeclaims (including futures and options), indices, funds, performancemetrics, operating results, financial positions, financing events,takeovers, mergers, acquisitions, business conditions, businessdecisions, forecasts or the like. The rules of wagering, including theodds and potential payouts, may be affected by the volume and directionof wagers. The rules of wagering, including the odds and potentialpayouts, may be set by a board of directors or the like. For example, ina particular embodiment, an insider 102 may be allowed to wager part ofhis annual bonus on whether annual earnings per share will reach aspecified target level, with the potential payout increasing as thetarget level increases. Wagering may be presented as or take theappearance of a game.

In embodiments, insiders 102 may make predictions or give signals (oract in ways that function as predictions or signals) about one or moresecurities, commodities, currencies, derivative claims (includingfutures and options), indices, funds, performance metrics, operatingresults, financial positions, financing events, takeovers, mergers,acquisitions, business conditions, business decisions, forecasts or thelike. The predictions or signals may take the form of words, numbers,sounds, game-play, visual displays or the like. The predictions orsignals may be at fixed intervals or on a continuous basis. In oneembodiment, an insider 102 may make predictions or signals withoutdirectly and/or immediately modifying his compensation. For example, theinsider may demonstrate his ability to accurately predict future shareprices without being directly compensated for his predictions; rather,the demonstrated accuracy of his predictions may allow him to negotiategreater compensation in a future employment contract. In this way,through his predictions he is indirectly modifying his futurecompensation and contributing to his human capital. In one embodiment,insiders 102 may be compensated for making predictions or givingsignals, for the speed or accuracy of those predictions or signals, forother criteria related to the predictions or signals, and/or forparticipating in a broader arrangement that allows for such predictionsor signals.

The systems and methods described herein may be implemented using acomputer or computing device, website, network, portal, the Internet,software, rules, regulations, policies, contracts or by other means. Thesystems and methods described herein may be implemented using paperrecords. The systems and methods described herein may be implemented bya business, non-profit organization, corporation, bank, insurer, trustcompany, investment company, treasury, brokerage house, association ofsecurities brokers or dealers, hedge fund, stock exchange, regulatoryagency, government body, external service provider, including, but notlimited to a consulting firm, or the like. Human participants mayinclude directors, officers, executives, employees, contractors,consultants, advisors, lawyers, bankers, brokers, dealers, specialists,analysts (including those at credit bureaus and rating agencies),investors, creditors, government officials, researchers, members of themedia, regulators, such as at the Securities and Exchange Commission,National Association of Securities Dealers, state securities commissionsand the Federal Reserve Board, members of securities exchanges andautomatic quotation systems, such as the NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX,employees or volunteers at non-profit organizations, marketparticipants, shareholder plaintiff bar, corporate defense bar,treasurers, and the like.

Insiders 102 may interact with a FAIR facility 108 through a userinterface. The interaction may be via an electronic device, such as acomputer, laptop computer, tablet PC, cell phone, telephone, personaldigital assistant, personal email device, mobile device, Blackberry,Treo, pager, personal video game system, and the like. The device mayinclude a display. The device may be an input device. The device may bean output device. The device may allow insiders 102 to interact with aFAIR facility 108 through the World Wide Web or by other means. Thedevice may use passwords or other security features to identify eachuser. The device may allow insiders 102 to interact with a FAIR facility108 on a continuous basis or only at set intervals. The device may allowinsiders 102 to interact with interested parties 104 and/or with otherinsiders 102. The device may allow insiders 102 to receive and transmitinformation including information exclusive to insiders, withoutrequiring direct disclosure of the inside information itself. The devicemay allow insiders 102 to individualize the information they send and/orreceive or the manner in which they receive it, including the manner inwhich it is displayed. The device may provide insiders 102 withstreaming “real time” news and/or data. The device may alert insiders102 upon the occurrence of certain events, such as when a parameterrelated to a security reaches a specified level, when new businessinformation becomes available, and the like. The systems and/or methodsmay involve linking to insider's 102 bank accounts, brokerage accounts,trading accounts, credit cards, online payment accounts (such as PayPal)and the like. Insiders 102 or their employers may be charged fees forusing the device or for accessing a FAIR facility 108 or for servicesrelated to the device or the FAIR facility 108. In one embodiment, theFAIR facility 108 includes a web server that supports insider 102interactions using a conventional web browser client.

Interested parties 104 may receive communications and/or analysis fromthe methods and systems described herein, including the FAIR facility108, through a user interface. The user interface may be a computer userinterface. The user interface may include an electronic device, such asa computer, laptop computer, tablet PC, cell phone, telephone, personaldigital assistant, personal email device, mobile device, Blackberry,Treo, pager, personal video game system, and the like. The device mayinclude a display. The device may be an input device. The device may bean output device. The device may provide users with streaming “realtime” news and/or data. The device may alert users when newcommunications and/or analysis become available or upon the occurrenceof other events. The device may allow users to interact with the FAIRfacility 108 through the World Wide Web or by other means. The devicemay use passwords or other security features to identify users. Thedevice may allow users to individualize the communications and/oranalysis they receive and/or customize the manner in which they receiveit, including the manner in which it is displayed. Users may be chargedfees for using the device or for accessing a FAIR facility 108 or forservices related to the device or the FAIR facility 108. The fees maydefer the cost of implementing the systems and/or methods or may beprofits to certain of the parties involved, such as insiders 102,service providers, companies that are the subject of the information,and the like. Interested parties 104 may receive communications and/oranalysis from the methods and systems described herein, including theFAIR facility 108, through paper based reports and press releases.Recipients of paper reports and/or press releases may be charged a feefor the receipt of those reports and/or press releases. The fees maydefer the cost of implementing the systems and methods or may be profitsto certain of the parties involved, such as insiders 102, serviceproviders, companies that are the subject of the information, and thelike. In one embodiment, the FAIR facility includes a web server thatsupports interactions with interested parties using a conventional webbrowser client.

The FAIR facility 108 may be adapted to support a number of revenuemodels. For example, the communications and/or analysis archived by theFAIR facility may be compiled into a database. Recipients ofcommunications and/or analysis may be charged fees for access to thedatabase or any data therein. The fees may defer the cost ofimplementing the systems and methods or may be profits to certain of theparties involved, such as insiders 102, service providers, companiesthat are the subject of the communications and/or analysis, and thelike. In addition, various service levels may be provided coveringaspects such as use of analytic engines, real time (versus delayed)access to data, and degrees of access to data (e.g., full access versussummary or profile data access).

An advertising model may be employed. The user interface and/or thedatabase itself may contain advertising and fees may be charged for suchadvertising space. As a significant advantage, an advertising model mayemploy the FAIR context (e.g., an equities trader interested in aparticular company or industry) to target advertising to an appropriateaudience.

The methods and/or systems described herein, including the FAIR facility108, may be used to analyze, regulate and/or improve the flows ofinformation within an organization. In an embodiment, employees atmultiple levels of a company may be allowed to utilize a FAIR facility108. The communications to interested parties 104 may include the typesand/or levels of employees involved in the disclosure. This may allowmarket participants to evaluate the credibility of the purportedinformation contained in the communications. For example, at a drugcompany, a junior scientist may first discover an adverse effect of adrug currently being produced and sold by the drug company, or a drugcurrently undergoing FDA trials or the like. The communications may showsales of phantom securities by the junior scientist, and then his boss,and then other scientists in his group, and then as information makesits way to senior management, senior management may then sell phantomshares. The market could use the pattern of communications to assess thesource and significance of the underlying information contained in theFAIR trading patterns. For example, if the communications had originatedwith senior management or the marketing department, the purportedinformation may be less credible. Permitting participation at variouslevels of a company may allow for more rapid dissemination ofinformation both within the market and within companies. The market maybe able to piece together information from various compensationmodifications and/or other communications before top management has ahandle on the issues. Management could get a handle on issues morequickly by tracking the compensation modifications and/or othercommunications. For example, if employees of a particular business unitbegan trading heavily in phantom securities, one of the company's keydecision-makers may wish to meet with those employees to discuss theirinformation. Management could also use the communication patterns tobetter structure the internal organization of a company. For example, ifa business unit proved to be a consistent source of information,management may wish to bring that business unit in closer physical orhierarchical proximity to the company's key decision-makers.

The methods and/or systems described herein, including the FAIR facility108, may be used for research, such as to study the effects of insideinformation or to study the flow of information within a company.

Use of a FAIR facility 108, such as for efficient dissemination ofcorporate information may have many beneficial effects. A FAIR facility108 may narrow the distribution of potential returns by accelerating theresolution of uncertainty. Insiders 102 sometimes apprehend informationbefore it is fully reflected in securities prices. Because investors andcreditors make more accurate guesses about a corporation's stream offuture cash flows when they have more information about thatcorporation, and because the deviation of a security's returns decreasesas the accuracy of those guesses increases, a FAIR facility 108 maydecrease the standard deviation of a security's returns. Most investorsand creditors dislike risk. Such investors and creditors demand apremium over the risk-free rate of return that increases with thestandard deviation of a security's returns. Therefore, a FAIR facility108 may reduce a security's risk premium, which would increase thesecurity's value.

A FAIR facility 108 may also allow security holders to recover resourcesthat are currently wasted on redundant search. Today, industry analystsspend time and money to learn information that is already known by afirm's insiders 102. These search expenditures allow industry analyststo win trading transfers from those less informed security holders whohappen to trade against them. A FAIR facility 108 may reduce theincentive for redundant searching by reducing the amount of informationnot yet reflected in a security's price. A reduction in redundant searchmay increase uninformed investors' and creditors' wealth by theaccompanying reduction in trading transfers and produce a net socialgain equal to the reduction in redundant search. The following exampleillustrates this point. A research analyst covering Personal ComputerInc. (“PC”) for a hedge fund surveys various computer wholesalers andanalyzes the resultant data at a total cost of $100,000. Using thisanalysis, the analyst determines that PC's Q1 revenues will far exceedthe consensus expectation—a fact already known to some of PC's insiders102. On the basis of that determination, the analyst's firm buys 100,000shares of PC at an average price of $25/share. PC's unexpectedly strongrevenues are announced, causing the price of a share in PC to rise to$28. Over the next few days, the analyst's firm sells its shares at anaverage price of $28, netting $300,000 on the trade. The hedge fund'sgain per force implies a $300,000 loss for other shareholders (sinceother shareholders would have to have held those 100,000 shares had thehedge fund not). Had news of the strong revenues been integrated intothe price of shares before the analyst could act on it, such as mayoccur after the implementation of a FAIR facility 108, the hedge fundwould not have gained $300,000, other shareholders would not have lost$300,000, and the hedge fund would not have spent $100,000 trying todivine PC's Q1 revenues. The elimination of those redundant search costswould create a net gain.

A FAIR facility 108 may increase liquidity by dampening excessvolatility. When setting prices, market makers may infer knowledge fromthe flow of orders: an abnormally large inflow of net buy (sell) ordersmay cue market makers to raise (lower) prices. Unfortunately, suchinferences are imperfect, for the order flow is shaped by both informedtrades (hedge funds initiating or terminating bets on a stock,acquaintances of insiders exploiting illicit information, etc.) anduninformed trades (an institution or wealthy individual seekingliquidity, a coincidental influx of many small buy or sell orders,etc.). Accordingly, a large inflow of net buy (sell) orders may be theeffect of a positive (negative) movement in the real value of the stockor of a deviation in the stochastic flow of uninformed buy (sell)orders. The problem is that since market makers cannot differentiateorders sent by informed traders from orders sent by uninformed traders,market makers will rationally respond to buy (sell) orders fromuninformed traders by raising (lowering) the ask (bid). Such protectiveaction by market makers may reduce the liquidity available to uninformedtraders looking to raise or invest cash, since they will have to eitheraccept higher (lower) asks (bids) or buy (sell) their shares piecemealover time to stay under market makers' radar (and in so doing, acceptthe risk of price fluctuations). A FAIR facility 108 may reduce thenumber of orders received by market makers that are based on informationnot yet reflected in the price of shares. Such a reduction of informedorders could reduce the extent to which market makers respond touninformed orders with liquidity-reducing adjustments to the bid andask. FIG. 4 illustrates these concepts in greater detail.

Referring to FIG. 4, solely uninformed trades create an inflow of netsell orders (the magnitude of which is measured against the verticalaxis found in the first column, where net buys are represented aspositive numbers and net sales as negative numbers). A market makerreceiving these orders likely has no way of knowing with certaintywhether they contain information about the true value of shares. Themarket maker may only attempt to infer the informational content of theorder flow through induction: specifically, by calculating theprobability of each combination of informed and uninformed ordercomponents, given the observed aggregate order flow. In the figure, eachsolid arrow represents a (possible) informed order-flow component of theobserved net order flow; each dashed arrow represents a (possible)uninformed order-flow component of the observed net order flow. The truecause is therefore naught but a dashed arrow. Each possible cause of themarket maker's observation, except for the first, is paired with asecond possible cause that has an informed component of the same sizebut opposite direction. In FIG. 4, such pairs are separated by a heavyblack line. In every pair the likelihood of the even numbered componenthaving been the cause of the observation is greater than the likelihoodof the odd numbered component having been the cause, since theprobability of the informed component in each pair is the same but theprobability of the uninformed component is greater for the even numberedcomponent, since the probability of a deviation (from zero) in the flowof uninformed orders decreases as the magnitude of that deviationincreases. As such, the expected value of the informed component of themarket maker's observation is negative. Thus, the market maker shouldinfer that the observation was caused, at least in part, by net salesfrom informed traders. This inference suggests to market makers thatthey are bidding more for shares than those shares are actually worthand, consequently, cues them to adjust their bids downward. A FAIRfacility 108 may mitigate these issues.

FIG. 5 depicts an embodiment of a FAIR facility system 500. The system500 may include a FAIR facility 502, a network 504, and one or moreclients. The FAIR facility 502 may include a secure interface 510, apricing engine 512, a market engine 514, a public interface 516, and atransaction history database 518. The system 500 is now described ingreater detail.

The FAIR facility 502 generally operates to support the functions andfeatures described above. This may include, for example, receivinginformation or trade requests from insiders, processing trades,providing public access to trading data, and maintaining a record oftrades and other informational transactions.

The network 504, which may include various public and private networkssuch as the Internet, wireless networks, cellular phone networks, WiMaxnetworks, satellite networks, the public switched telephone network, andso forth, serves to interconnect the FAIR facility 502 with variousclient devices 506.

The client devices 506 may include any device suitable for communicatingwith the FAIR facility 502 including without limitation cellular phones,telephones, wireless e-mail devices, laptop or other portable computers,desktop computers, and so forth. Client devices 506 may include devicesoperated by secure users of the FAIR facility 502 as well as devicesoperated by general users of the FAIR facility 502 public interface. Theclient devices 506 may also include computerized systems such as stockprice reporting systems or any other sources of public data that mightprovide data to the FAIR facility 502 for purposes of pricing within theFAIR market.

The secure interface 510 may provide an interface to secure users (e.g.,insiders and other FAIR market participants) of the system 500. This maybe, for example, a secure socket layer web interface through whichsecure users provide login credentials to access the FAIR marketplace.This may also, or instead, include a dedicated private line or virtualprivate network interface to a corporate area network. In general, thesecure interface 510 is accessed by employees, executives, and the liketo provide information or request transactions within the FAIRenvironment.

The pricing engine 512 may implement any rules, algorithms, formulas, orthe like to determine prices of phantom securities within the FAIRmarketplace. This may include, for example, publicly availableinformation about a company or a stock (or other financial instrument),as well as non-public information provide by a corporation using theFAIR facility 502.

The market engine 514 may provide a trading platform for phantomsecurities or the like within the FAIR marketplace. This may include anynumber of rules, formulae, or the like for clearing transactions eitherthrough conventional two-sided market making techniques, or by providinga set of predetermined rules for transactions between the corporationand individual participants. The market engine 514 may rely in whole orin part on pricing information provided by the pricing engine 512 forclearing transactions.

The public interface 516, which may be a web interface or the like,provides public access to some or all of the data on the FAIR marketplace.

A transaction history 518 may be maintained for some or all of thetransactions conducted within the FAIR marketplace. This information maybe searchable in its raw form, or may be available to certain users(such as the general public through the public interface 516) only insummary or abstract form.

FIG. 6 shows a private trading interface for the FAIR system. The userinterface 600 may be a secure interface accessed using login credentialssuch as a username and password, with security maintained by SSL orsimilar encryption technologies. Login credentials, and thus access, maybe reserved for individuals associated with the corporate entity forwhich trades are to be conducted. This may include, for example,employees, directors, officers and the like. In some embodiments, thismay also include consultants, lawyers, accountants, or the like workingfor but not employed by the entity.

The interface 600 may include an order placement tool 602 within theinterface 600 for submitting trades in at least one synthetic securityto a non-public market engine that supports trades among the one or moreauthorized users. In embodiments, a user may be a dealer and/or broker.The price of the synthetic security may, for example, be related to anyitem of non-public or public information, or a combination of these. Ingeneral, an order may be any conditional or unconditional order, and mayinclude a stop, a limit, a stop limit, or the like.

The interface 600 may also include an order confirmation tool 604 thatprovides a user with a confirmation of a trade executed by the marketengine. It will be understood that, while depicted as a separate windowwithin the user interface 600, the order confirmation tool 604 may beprovided in a different window that the interface automaticallynavigates to upon completion of an order. In other embodiments, ane-mail confirmation or other alert may be generated instead of, or inaddition to, the user-interface-based confirmation.

The interface 600 may also include a window 606 that displays currentand/or historical information for the price and/or volume of thesynthetic security. Other information may be provided in this window606, such as publicly available information, moving averages, links tonews items, or important dates, which may be displayed inchronologically appropriate locations within the window 606. Tradingresults and/or the information in the window 606 may also, or instead,be provided in a public interface for unconditional access and review bythe general public, or by registered users who are not authorized totrade in the synthetic security, or by the one or more individuals whoare authorized to make trades in the synthetic security. In embodiments,the interface 600 may include interactive controls, such as interactivecontrols for permitting a user to manipulate the display of the at leastone of historical trading data and publicly available information. Inembodiments, the interface 600 may include interactive controls, such asinteractive controls for permitting the user to apply at least one of aselection of algorithms and mathematical operations to the at least oneof historical trading data and publicly available information.

In general, a market engine associated with the interface 600 maysupport trades among the authorized individuals as generally describedabove. In one aspect, the market engine may support unilateral tradesagainst a computer-determined price, with the corporate entity makingthe market for the synthetic security. In another aspect, only bilateraltrades between a willing seller and a willing purchaser are supported.As generally described above, the price may be determined by the buyerand seller, or may be determined using public information, non-publicinformation, or a calculated metric for the entity. The calculatedmetric may include any common financial metric such as revenue, growth,earnings, cash flow, and so forth. In one aspect, the metric may be anoutside metric such as an analyst estimate for future earnings or sales.

In embodiments, the interface 600 may be a secure interface forauthenticated access to a market engine. The authenticated access may bereserved for one or more dealers of at least one synthetic security in anon-public market that may support trades among one or more individuals.The synthetic security may have a price related to at least one item ofinformation for a corporate entity. The interface 600 may also includean order-matching tool within the secure interface for matching tradesin at least one synthetic security. The interface 600 may also include adisplay control adapted to receive a user controlled selection ofexecuted and unexecuted trades. The interface 600 may also include anorder confirmation tool that provides a user with a confirmation of amatched trade. In an embodiment, trades may be matched betweenindividuals associated with a corporate entity. In embodiments, tradesmay be matched against at least one dealer's inventory of syntheticsecurities.

FIG. 7 shows a public interface for the FAIR system. The user interface700 may be a publicly accessible web interface to historical data forthe market engine. A display control 702 may receive user input such asa selection of a date range for display of historical trading data for asynthetic security. In embodiments, a user may be a dealer and/orbroker. The interface 600 may also include a window 704 that displayscurrent and/or historical information for the price and/or volume of thesynthetic security according to the user-provided selections. Otherinformation may be provided in this window 704, such as publiclyavailable information, moving averages, links to news items, orimportant dates, which may be displayed in chronologically appropriatelocations within the window 704. Trading results and/or the informationin the window 704 may be updated in real time, and the interface 700 mayinclude a real time or delayed ticker 706 of most recent trades.

The window 704 may, for example, display a chronological chart ofhistorical trading data, along with volume or other relevant informationfor trading in the synthetic security. In one aspect, the window 704 orticker 706 may display identity information for individuals who areinitiating trades including filled orders as well as unfilled orders, ifany. The window 704 or ticker 706 may optionally provide a hyperlink tothis information which may be embedded at any suitable location withinthe ticker 706 or the graphically displayed price/volume information inthe window 704. This information may include a name of an individual, arole of the individual within the corporate entity, a job title, adepartmental association, an employment history, or any otherinformation that might be relevant to the identity and role of theindividual within the entity. In one aspect, the historical trading datawithin the window 704 and/or ticker 706 may be delayed, and real timedata may optionally be provided on a subscription, fee-based, or otherbasis.

It will be appreciated that the above systems and methods may berealized in hardware, software, or any combination of these suitable forsupporting a FAIR system described herein. This includes realization inone or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, embeddedmicrocontrollers, programmable digital signal processors or otherprogrammable devices, along with internal and/or external memory. Themay also, or instead, include one or more application specificintegrated circuits, programmable gate arrays, programmable array logiccomponents, or any other device or devices that may be configured toprocess electronic signals. It will further be appreciated that arealization may include computer executable code created using astructured programming language such as C, an object orientedprogramming language such as C++, or any other high-level or low-levelprogramming language (including assembly languages, hardware descriptionlanguages, and database programming languages and technologies) that maybe stored, compiled or interpreted to run on one of the above devices,as well as heterogeneous combinations of processors, processorarchitectures, or combinations of different hardware and software. Atthe same time, processing may be distributed across devices such as adatabase, web server, and client devices in a number of ways or all ofthe functionality may be integrated into a dedicated, standalone device,such as within a corporate area network. All such permutations andcombinations are intended to fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

While the invention has been described in connection with certainpreferred embodiments, other embodiments may be understood by those ofordinary skill in the art and are encompassed herein. All documentreferenced herein are hereby incorporated by reference.

1. A graphical user interface comprising: a secure interface forauthenticated access to a market engine, wherein authenticated access isreserved for one or more individuals associated with a corporate entity,the one or more individuals including at least one employee of thecorporate entity; an order placement tool within the secure interfacefor submitting trades in at least one synthetic security to a non-publicmarket engine that supports trades among the one or more individuals,the synthetic security having a price related to at least one item ofinformation for the corporate entity; and an order confirmation toolthat provides a user with a confirmation of a trade executed by themarket engine.
 2. The user interface of claim 1 further comprising apublic interface for unconditional access to trading results from themarket engine.
 3. The user interface of claim 1 further comprising aprivate interface for authenticated access by the one or moreindividuals to trading results from the market engine.
 4. The userinterface of claim 1 wherein the market engine supports trades among theone or more individuals associated with the corporate entity.
 5. Theuser interface of claim 1 wherein the market engine supports unilateraltrades by the user.
 6. The user interface of claim 1 wherein thesynthetic security has a price related to at least one item ofnon-public information for the corporate entity.
 7. The user interfaceof claim 1 wherein the synthetic security has a price related to atleast one item of public information for the corporate entity.
 8. Theuser interface of claim 1 wherein the market engine supports trades in aplurality of synthetic securities, each one of the plurality ofsynthetic securities having a price related to one or more metrics ofthe corporate entity.
 9. A graphical user interface comprising: apublicly-accessible web interface to historical data for a non-publicmarket engine that executes transactions among a plurality ofindividuals associated with a corporate entity in at least one syntheticsecurity, the synthetic security having a price related to at least oneitem of information for the corporate entity; a display control withinthe web interface adapted to receive a user selection of at least one ofhistorical trading data for the at least one synthetic security andpublicly available information; and a window for displaying the at leastone of historical trading data and publicly available informationretrieved in response to the user selection.
 10. The user interface ofclaim 9 wherein the window displays a chronological chart of at leastone of historical trading data and publicly available information. 11.The user interface of claim 9 wherein the window includes interactivecontrols permitting the user to manipulate the display of the at leastone of historical trading data and publicly available information. 12.The user interface of claim 9 wherein the window includes interactivecontrols permitting the user to apply at least one of a selection ofalgorithms and mathematical operations to the at least one of historicaltrading data and publicly available information.
 13. The user interfaceof claim 9 wherein the window includes interactive controls permittingaccess to identity information for one or more individuals who initiatedtrades reflected in the historical trading data.
 14. The user interfaceof claim 13 wherein the identity information includes a name.
 15. Theuser interface of claim 13 wherein the identity information includes arole of the one or more individuals within the corporate entity.
 16. Theuser interface of claim 13 wherein the identity information includes oneor more of a job title for the one or more individuals, a departmentalassociation for the one or more individuals, and an employment historyat the corporate entity for the one or more individuals.
 17. The userinterface of claim 9 wherein the historical trading data is delayed. 18.The user interface of claim 17 wherein access to non-delayed historicaltrading data is provided as a fee-based service.
 19. The user interfaceof claim 9 wherein the at least one item of information includes an itemof publicly available information.
 20. The user interface of claim 9wherein the at least one item of information includes an item ofnon-public information.
 21. A graphical user interface comprising: asecure interface for authenticated access to a market engine, whereinauthenticated access is reserved for one or more dealers of at least onesynthetic security in a non-public market that supports trades among oneor more individuals, the synthetic security having a price related to atleast one item of information for a corporate entity; an order-matchingtool within the secure interface for matching trades in at least onesynthetic security; a display control adapted to receive a usercontrolled selection of executed and unexecuted trades; an orderconfirmation tool that provides a user with a confirmation of a matchedtrade.
 22. The user interface of claim 21 wherein trades are matchedbetween individuals associated with a corporate entity.
 23. The userinterface of claim 21 wherein trades are matched against at least onedealer's inventory of synthetic securities.
 24. A computer programproduct comprising computer executable code that, when executing on oneor more computing devices, performs the steps of: providing a marketengine supporting trades in at least one synthetic security, thesynthetic security having a price related to at least one item ofinformation for a corporate entity; providing a secure interface to themarket engine for receiving trades from on or more authenticated users;storing a plurality of trades in a database, the plurality of tradesexecuted by the market engine according to trade orders received throughthe secure interface; and presenting a public interface forun-authenticated access to information in the database.